The detail-rich façade of the Horn and Hardart building at 15 South 11th Street | Photo: Steven M. Falk, The Inquirer

With the construction of the East Market development offering temporarily unobstructed views of William Steele & Sons’ heavily ornamented flagship location for the Horn & Hardart restaurant chain at 15 South 11th Street, its current owners, Brickstone Realty, are refurbishing the 104-year-old structure, scrubbing its façade and replacing some of its glazed and colored terra-cotta tiles. What’s more, something of the original functionality of the five-story building will be returned, with a restaurant filling the ground floor and co-working space coming to the former textile factory lofts above.

Last month the Artblog’s Michael Lieberman stopped by Chestnut Hill’s Woodmere Art Museum to speak with director Bill Valerio, who he says has done much to turn the perpetually underfunded gallery around in his six years there–while the 15,000 guests that visited in 2010 could appreciate 2,000 works, last year’s 43,000 were treated to a collection 6,000 strong.“Today it is a vibrant, progressive museum and cultural and educational center featuring jazz concerts, lectures, and films.” On Saturday, June 4, the museum will feature the works of artists living within fifty miles in The Woodmere Annual: 75th Juried Exhibition, The Condition of Place.

Ken Finkel recalls that for six decades the Benjamin Franklin Parkway was too prominent a site to reserve the public’s grateful consideration of the All Wars Memorial to Colored Soldiers and Sailors. From 1934 to 1994, J. Otto Schweitzer’s 11-figure group (5 of which are white female personifications) sat hidden behind Fairmount Park’s Memorial Hall. It can now be appreciated at Logan Circle.

About the author

Stephen Currall recently received his BA in history from Arcadia University. Before beginning doctoral studies, he is pursuing his interest in local history, specifically just how Philadelphians engage their vibrant past. Besides skimming through 18th century letters, Steve is also interested in music and travel.

If only a new Horn & Hardart would open. In this age of take-out, their meals would be most welcome, and an improvement on many of the trendy new places taking their role. With diners in perpetual decline, a cafeteria/automat would be very welcome. Where else are the single adults and elderly to hang out, socialize, be seen? No one wants to go to the Senior Centers.

Missing for decades, two signature sculptures come home to Fairmount Water Works. A. Leonard Pundt has the details on how conservation efforts and carefully-crafted reproductions brought the iconic public artwork back to life > more